Indian Ground Beef Coconut Curry

If you are looking to make a tasty stew to keep you warm this fall/winter, you’ve found it. This Indian Ground Beef Coconut Curry is a Keralite inspired dish. In Kerala, they make a ton of stew, or as they call it: ishtu. Ishtu. It’s fun to say… and even more fun to eat. You can make all kinds of ishtu with chicken, lamb, beef, potatoes, eggs [click here for my coconut egg curry] etc. Because this is a mildly spiced stew, it’s usually eaten for breakfast but in our house, we eat ishtu for lunch or dinner.

When making beef ishtu, I’ll usually just use the leftover beef from this recipe but since I didn’t have any of the fried beef in the freezer I decided to use ground beef instead.

Roby and I eat a lot of grassfed ground beef. Probably more than we should but it’s delicious and an easy protein to make. During my most recent trip to the farmer’s market, the farmer I buy our beef from told me she was dangerously close to selling out; she said she may not have any more ground beef for me until next summer. I was kind of surprised at how shocked I was. It’s weird how weird I can be about food. I’ve tried beef from other vendors and while I’m sure all grassfed beef tastes relatively the same – this particular farmer had my favorite beef. Honestly, I think I prefer hers because of the packaging – it’s in 1 pound tubes. But still. In a moment of panic, I told her I’d buy everything she had… so I went home with 12 pounds of ground beef. Excessive? Probably. Do I think it will last us until next summer? No. I’ll probably have to seek out another farmer… eventually.

I used potatoes and carrots in this recipe. I know potatoes aren’t paleo, but if you’re mad that I used them, see my FAQ. You don’t have to use potatoes. It’ll still be delicious. Also, I usually just use one can of coconut milk, but you can definitely use two or you can just add some water/beef stock if you want a soupier stew. I like my stew nice and hearty – a lot of meat with every bite. I find that it actually keeps me from eating too much. I love coconut milk and I think that if I added more – I’d just eat that vs. eating the meat.

If you like a spicy stew, add more chopped Serrano peppers. The recipe below is subtly spiced but still packs a lot of flavor.

Comments

I just stumbled upon your website today via a shared post from Delicious Obsessions (FB) and I’m very interested in following more of a Paleo diet. Very cool recipes posted. Thanks for sharing so many. I do have a question for you and that is – is the coconut milk used to thicken the liquids? I’m going to try a few recipes and I’ll let you know how I get them to turn out. Thanks again.

Hi Beth! I use coconut milk a lot – it can serve a different purpose in different recipes. This particular recipe is a Keralite dish and in Kerala they make a lot of coconut curries because it adds to the flavor. Sometimes though I’ll use it to add a creamy texture or in place of yogurt when using a marinade. When I do that, I try to mask the coconut flavor with different spices (i.e. my butter chicken and tandoori chicken recipes). I hope this helps? Please let me know what you try!

So delicious!! Your recipe has that wonderful richly spiced taste that I always hope the curries that I make at home will have, but often don’t. After such success, we had your cashew and cardamom smoothie this morning and it was delicious as well. I’m adding your blog to our favorites. Thanks so much for sharing!

So excited I have stumbled onto your site! I am cooking for my one-year-old so sadly cannot have much spice (heat)… what do I need to omit/exchange in this recipe? Would a red pepper work for the serrano? Do I need to omit anything from the meat masala? Thanks!

Glad you found my site too! You can leave the serrano pepper out altogether – the dish will still have plenty of flavor. As for the meat masala – you’ll have taste it to make sure it’s not too spicy (from the black peppercorns). Coconut milk tends to balance out spices, but I’d err on the side of caution. After all, you can always add some crushed red pepper into your bowl of curry if you think it’s too bland! I hope that helps!

I have made this twice and absolutely love it. I had to make some minor substitutions for items I did not have on hand but pretty much generally followed it. I used ground beef once and then ground lamb. Both were wonderful. Thanks so much for posting this! Found your site while searching for a ground beef curry recipe.

Mercy, unfortunately there really isn’t a sub out there for curry leaves – it has a really unique flavor. Have you considered ordering fresh curry leaves off amazon? You can store the extra leaves in your freezer: http://amzn.to/181aMNU

This was amazing! We omitted the onions, carrots and potatoes (didn’t have any) and added spinach. We doubled the recipe but not the coconut milk. We served it over cauliflower rice. Highly recommend this recipe.

I stumbled upon your site while looking at Paleo Grubs and can i just say i fell in love with wanting to make this recipe. I made it this evening and it will be a repeat in my kitchen. The flavors were so good, even my 7 year old daughter who helped make it enjoyed it! I will be checking out your site regularly for new recipes to try Thank you again for posting this and sharing this amazing creation!

Ashley, I’ve been making your recipes with great success for a while, but I never bothered to thank you. Sorry! Thank you, thank you, thank you! My family enjoys your recipes immensely and it is so lovely to have things like empanadas and samosas back on the menu!

I was looking for an Indian recipe that used ground beef and I stumbled on your blog. We made the Indian Ground Beef Coconut Curry. I substituted sweet potato for the carrot and threw in a bit of spinach. Huge dinner hit! We will definitely make this one again. As we are gluten-free and love Indian food, we are very excited to try more of your recipes.

I’m doing a sugar/carb detox and this recipe was compatible (minus the potato). This is definitely going to be one of my go to recipes! My children (2 and 7 years) LOVED it! They were even stealing my food off my plate because they finished theirs so quickly. Thank you for the recipe!

Hi Ashley, I have questions about the curry leaves. I can’t get them easily, so the bunch I did get recently, I want to preserve. How would I best do that? I have a dehydrator and could dry them, but if I were to freeze them, how to do that? Also, for this recipe, are the sprigs to be removed before serving? Thanks

Hi Colleen, I suggest freezing them! Just put them in a ziplock bag and then before you use them in a recipe, give them a quick rinse. I use just the leaves, not the twig part. Typically, food is served with curry leaves but you’re supposed to treat them like whole spices and push them to the side of the plate (you can eat them, but most do not). I’ve written a detailed blog post on curry leaves if you want to learn more – let me know if you have any more questions!

South Asian Persuasion

by Ashley Singh Thomas

Miss eating your favorite Indian recipes now that you're gluten-free? This eBook includes 100+ north Indian and south Indian recipes that have been converted to be Paleo-friendly! These recipes are so flavorful that you'll never get bored following your new, healthier lifestyle!

My Heart Beets™ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.